3/30/14 Report - Gold Band Find, iPhone Find, Beach Conditions & Cracked Mayan Skulls

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.



Gold Band Beach Find.

It is one of those days that the Chamber of Commerce would order everyday.  Beautiful blue sky, practically no wind, lots of tourists on the roads and beach - I hated it!   No, just kidding.  It isn't my favorite.  I'd rather have wind and rain, but I'm odd that way.

It was a good day to be on the beach.  At least it isn't 100 degrees with 99 percent humidity.  There were a lot of sun-bathers and boaters out, some of whom are bound to lose things.

The high tides have been high and the low tides low.  The low tide this afternoon was nice and low and combined with the smooth surf made for easy water hunting or allowed beach detectors to get far down the beach front if that is what they wanted to do.

There weren't big shell piles, but there were some shells to be found at the beaches that are good for that type of thing.  Also a few little fossil peaces were seen.

I checked around, looking at some of the wreck beaches first.  It was sandy.  See the photos below.  Didn't take my detector out there.

I did see some small cuts, shown below, but didn't spend my time there either.

I went on to a beach visited by tourists.  Finds included the gold band, a common design, and an Apple iPhone, which was down a little more than a foot and drowned beyond repair.  Too bad for somebody.  That probably could have been returned if it was working.



Two Sandy Wreck Beaches This Afternoon.



One Treasure Coast Beach Showing a Small Cut Near the Hide Tide Line.

I'd rather hunt the wreck beaches, but when they look so poor, I'll move on and hunt the modern stuff.  That is my choice right now.

The first part of 2014 has been slow for hunting old stuff.  We had a good spell in November of 2013, but since then, not much.

Here is the dug iPhone.   I was surprised how deep it was.  It was at the water level at lowest tide.


Archaeologists found evidence that the Mayan used clubs with spikes on them.  They looked at skulls and found the forensic wounds.

Here is part of what the following linked article said about that.

 Close examination of 116 skulls left over from 200 years of warfare indicates that ancient Mayan armies used nasty spiked clubs for combat in open terrain.

The widespread adoption of these clubs, as well as projectiles, may have been due to larger armies enlisting more commoners.

A recent published study follows previous research into Mayan skeletal trauma indicating a fondness for flaying and decapitation, heart extraction, dismemberment, de-fleshing, parry fractures and head fractures.

Here is the link if you want to read more of the story.

http://www.cqu.edu.au/cquninews/stories/research-category/skulduggery-not-required-as-mayan-skulls-reveal-brutal-blows-to-the-head

Sometimes people don't like history.  Mel Gibson took a lot of heat for the movie in which he showed such things. 

The political correctness movement wants to decide who did what to whom rather than look at the evidence.

Slavery and brutality was in the New World long before the Europeans arrived.


I got new supplies for my acid test kit.  The nugget tests gold for sure, but I have determined that the very small whitish pieces that I showed are not gold or platinum or silver, at least not of any high purity.

That's all for today.  Still time to detect before the day is over, especially if you want to check the locations where the crowds congregated today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/3/13 Report - Density and Shape Both Affect Where Items Gather On a Beach & What Does Lifetime Warranty Really Mean

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

National Hurricane Center Map

We still have the same two areas to watch.  Jerry seems to be going nowhere, but the low pressure area down by the Yucatan now has an eighty percent chance of becoming a cyclone and could be headed for the Gulf Coast.  That is the one to watch for now.

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Here is an interesting article about ancient Roman bones and thousands of artifacts being discovered in a lost river.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24351460


Here is one brief quote from that story that I wanted to elaborate on.

"Forensic studies show that when the body disintegrates near a watercourse, the skull travels furthest, either because it floats or it can roll along the base of the river."

In my 8/5/13 post I did a simple experiment which supported what I always say about how items move on a beach.  My experiment involved four items made of lead, but each was a different shape or size.  When washed by a rush of water, both size(or weight) and shape affected how far the water moved the four differently shaped items.

(You can page back to my 8/5/13 post.)

The egg shaped lead sinker moved the most, a fish shaped sinker next most, and then a small disk or coin-shaped sinker, and then the bigger and heavier disk or coin-shaped sinker moved the least by the water.

Although people talk about weight as being the biggest factor in determining how an object sinks into the sand, I've claimed time and time again that weight is not as important as density and that shape as well as density is a very important factor in determining how an object is moved on a beach or in the water.

The quote from the article above is just another illustration of that fact.  A skull will present more surface area for the water to push against and may also roll.  The other bones are generally more aerodynamic than the skull and will not be moved as much by rushing water.  Skulls can also trap air, giving some buoyancy.

How does that relate to detectorists on the beach?   Coins lay flat against the sand and present a lot of surface area to the sand while presenting only a thin edge for the rushing water to push against.  They hug the surface of the beach while the water rushes over them.  They therefore lag behind other items that are more quickly washed away.

Watches are something like the skulls.  They contain space where air is trapped making them more buoyant.  They also present more surface area to the sand and do not sink into loose sand rapidly.  You'll often find watches in dips filled with course sand and bits of shells.

Rings while laying flat will sink into the sand rather rapidly, but they can also get turned on edge and roll down the slope.  I've seen that happen a number of times.

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What is a liftetime warranty?  You might think that if a metal detector manufacturer offers a liftetime warranty that means that you'll be able to get your detector fixed under warranty for as long as you own the detector.  Think again!

I don't know what lifetime Tesoro is talking about when they advertise a lifetime warranty, maybe the lifetime of a fruit fly, but it does not mean the lifetime of the detector.

One person was motivated by the advertised lifetime warranty to buy a Tesoro detector, which he used primarily as a backup.  He liked the idea of having a detector that he could get fixed without cost or problems.  He also owned a variety of metal detectors made by most of the other major manufacturers and used a couple of those other detectors the vast majority of the time.

But "lifetime" to Tesoro did not mean what the buyer thought it meant!  When he sent in his detector for repairs after years of using it only rarely, mostly having it around as a backup, after tracking the detector and finding that the company had received it a week earlier but having heard nothing from them, he called to see if it was shipped back yet.  What he then learned was that in the past week they did not diagnose the problem but instead told him he would have to send in a deposit to have it fixed and that they no longer had a circuit board for that model and so didn't think that they would be able to fix it anyhow.

Evidently what lifetime means to them is the period of time that they maintain a stock of parts for repairs.  When they no longer have the parts for a particular model, the "lifetime" is over.

I know of another case in which the same thing happened.  The older detector was purchased under the lifetime warranty and when sent in for repairs was deemed too old, and they said they no longer had the necessary parts to repair it.  When pressed about the lifetime warranty, they said there was white dust from corrosion in the unit and that voided the warranty.  That was said after they had already admitted that they no longer had the parts to repair the unit, but it gave them an out.   If the corrosion had voided he warranty or not, they still did not have the parts to repair the detector.  I suspect you can find some hint of corrosion on any electronics of some age even if you have to use a microscope to find it.

My main point is that when you hear a "liftetime" warranty advertised, it probably means something other than what you think when you hear the term.  Don't be fooled by that.

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On the Treasure Coast, conditions remain pretty much the same.   Watch that low pressure area.

The surf will be about 2 feet today and down around 1 foot this weekend.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net